


Cake or Death?

by Serene_Quill



Category: Eureka
Genre: Consent Issues, Dubious Consent, First Time, M/M, science made them do it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-27
Updated: 2012-03-27
Packaged: 2017-11-02 14:58:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/370254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serene_Quill/pseuds/Serene_Quill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A scientist’s plot to get back at Stark with stolen chemicals turns Carter’s life upside down.  Ambiguous future/post season 2, no season 3 spoilers.  A little angsty. Written for Rounds of Kink on LJ, Prompt: He's been doused with a new drug and now he's to find his mate and claim him else his body will shut down and die. Kink: biological imperative, sex or death</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cake or Death?

Jack tapped his foot impatiently, glaring at Fargo. Three years in Eureka, and Stark still kept him waiting out of some non-existent competition over the man’s ex-wife, who’d shot them both down during the past year. Stark delighted in irritating Jack, and usually Jack enjoyed dishing right back, but today it was only feeding Carter’s annoyance and adding to the nasty start of a migraine he had. He just wanted to go home to the bunker, which was too quiet while Zoë was in LA with Abby. “Look, can’t I just leave this with you?” he griped, waving a plastic evidence bag at Stark’s assistant. 

“Uh, no, because I don’t know what it is,” Fargo replied. 

“It’s whatever’s left of the chemical Dr. Dirkson felt was worth stealing from the behavioral manipulation labs in section four,” Jack snapped, glaring at Fargo. “Look, I feel like crap, and I’m going to go home, so just give this to—”

“Carter,” Stark’s voice was right behind him, sounding odd. It took Jack a moment to identify the odd note as concern. “Did you get any of the chemical on you?”

“Yeah, Dirkson, when he was trying to get away, tossed the stuff at me and it got all over my hands, but I scrubbed down afterwards,” Jack sighed, rolling his eyes at the taller man. “What is it this time? Obviously nothing good like invulnerability or x-ray vision, but hopefully not invisibility again.”

“No, not invisibility,” Stark said, his gaze unusually soft. “Come on, Carter, we need to get you to the infirmary.”

“Oh god, what?” Jack demanded, surprised by how unreasonable he was feeling. The last time he’d been this wound up, he’d been hunting down a Sasquatch. Or maybe the time he’d hit Abby’s boyfriend before going to file for divorce. 

“You don’t want to have this discussion here,” Stark reassured him, setting a firm hand on Jack’s shoulder. Like a switch had been flipped, Jack suddenly couldn’t draw a deep breath from his libido kicking in so rapidly. He’d been idly attracted to Stark for a long time now, but even when let himself get carried away enough by their flirtatious arguing to consider acting on it, it was nothing like this, he mused, trying to calm himself. “Come on, infirmary,” Stark urged him, pushing him a little.

“Okay,” Jack wheezed, Stark’s hand flying to his elbow to support him.

“Breathe,” Stark instructed him. “Fargo, I need you to take that bottle to the infirmary. Do not let it touch your skin. Get samples of what’s left of the substance and run it through a DNA test. Check GD personnel for matches first.”

“DNA?” Fargo asked blankly.

“Don’t question it, just do it,” Stark snapped at him, pushing Jack to move a little faster.

“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” Jack asked, wincing as his head throbbed, a sharp stabbing pain. “Not a migraine?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Stark replied, waiting for the elevator doors to close. “The chemical hasn’t been tested on humans, Carter. If it works the same as it has in chimp trials, and Dirkson programmed it like I imagine he did, this isn’t going to be pleasant.”

“Fatal?” Carter asked, shuddering a little when Stark’s fingers tightened on his arm. 

“Possibly,” Stark agreed. “Let’s get some tests, see how your system is responding.”

“And then you’ll explain it to me?” Jack asked, his libido closing down and suddenly his anger was back, overwhelming him with the urge to hit Stark until he gave up a straight answer for once. “Stark, step away from me,” he growled, clenching his fists.

For once, Stark didn’t argue, simply stepped back and away from Jack. “Deep breaths,” he said, his voice curiously gentle. “The chemical can elevate your anger levels to dangerous levels. It’s one of the side effects.”

Stark’s explanation started taking the edge off the lightning sharp anger. “Keep explaining,” Jack instructed Stark, who looked surprised. Jack had a sudden thought, and quickly removed his gun belt and handed it to Stark hurriedly. Deadly weapon and unpredictable aggression… he’d seen that one go badly too often at GD. “Being in the dark is what is aggravating me, so talk.”

“Okay,” Stark agreed, obviously humoring Jack as they left the elevator and headed into the infirmary. Jack was surprised that Stark pulled him through the main infirmary back to one of the side rooms, quieter, private. “You remember Taggart was developing synthetic hormones to help stimulate mating in endangered species?”

“I don’t like where this is going,” Jack groaned, sitting down on the gurney Stark indicated. He rolled up his sleeve, letting Stark draw blood. The pain in his head was getting worse, making him feel a little queasy.

“This is the next phase of that same project,” Stark continued as he drew several vials of blood. “It’s not just hormones, though that’s part of it. Like Taggart’s wolves, sometimes isolation, opportunity, and hormones aren’t enough. This targets specific DNA markers. It basically makes you crave that DNA. Mating instinct with one specific target.”

“And if I ignore the whole thing?” Jack asked, gasping as the pain stabbed at him again. 

Stark removed the needle from his arm and taped the arm up, then helped him lie back. “Ignore it, don’t ignore it, the serum was shelved because the end result was sex or death. Because pain, aggression and attraction are so closely linked, the end result the scientists were seeing most frequently was death. The brain gets the three signals all mixed up, which is why you think you have a migraine. The chemical rarely was successfully shut down yet, and eventually pain shuts down the brain and kills the subject.”

“So you’re saying I have to have sex with whatever… hopefully whoever, Dirkson programmed that stuff for and hope it’s enough to stop the chemical,” Jack groaned, the pain forcing him to curl inward. 

“I don’t think your system would react if it weren’t programmed for human DNA,” Stark said, placing a reassuring hand on Jack’s shoulder blade. “I don’t know if that helps at all, but I need you to try and relax.”

“Pain,” Jack explained, the stabbing now more rapid, but a little more muted once Stark touched him. 

“Okay, I need morphine,” Stark barked at someone Jack couldn’t see. “Sorry, Carter, it’s extreme, but it was the only thing that worked safely on chimps. Are you okay with it?”

“Yeah,” Carter said, suddenly shivering as Stark’s hand left his back. “Why are you being so nice?”

“You want me to be a jerk right now?” Stark asked lightly, the hand returning, now lightly stroking the hair along his temple. 

“You’re scared,” Jack accused, oddly aroused by the gentle touch in spite of the pain.

“There’s no way this ends well for you. I’m the one that sacked Dirkson, the one he was angry with, which makes this my fault, and I’m sorry for that,” Stark replied. 

“Hell, maybe Dirkson programmed it for someone really hot,” Jack joked, drawing a small smile from the scientist.

“You would be that lucky,” Stark replied, starting to pull his hand away, the pain instantly increasing.

“Don’t stop,” Jack moaned, before he could stop himself. “Please.”

“Is it helping?” Stark asked, the touch growing a little more solid, massaging Jack’s scalp.

“Sort of,” Jack admitted, his voice catching a little. “It feels good, so I’ve got something else to focus on other than pain.”

The strokes stopped for a moment. “Feels good how?” Stark asked, his voice suddenly alarmed. 

“Uh,” Jack stammered, feeling his face heat, then he blanched, his head throbbing and wiping out any embarrassment. He curled in more tightly, burrowing his head into the pillow.

“Okay, I get it,” Stark reassured him, resuming his gentle touch as he opened his phone. “Fargo, are you running DNA?”

“Yes, sir, but it’ll take some time to go through the Eureka database,” Fargo said, his voice tiny and far away, and Jack realized he was hearing it through Stark’s phone. 

“Bump my name up to the top of the list,” Stark said quietly. “Call it a hunch.” The phone snapped closed, and Stark’s thumb ran over Jack’s cheekbone reassuringly. Jack felt a quick pinch at the back of his neck, a nurse giving him morphine. The pain eased a little, but remained, stabbing just behind his eyes.

“Why would Dirkson pick you?” Jack asked, turning into the touch of Stark’s hand, fighting the urge to kiss the palm as it soothed his head. 

“Any number of reasons, take your pick. Easy access to a DNA sample. Getting back at me. Probably the worst thing he could have done to you. Probably to hurt me though,” Stark mused, carefully smoothing Jack’s hair. “I may be wrong, let’s just wait and see.”

“I don’t think you are,” Jack warned him, losing his impulse control with the drowsy morphine haze and bringing his hand up to cover Stark’s, sliding it down to his lips, pressing a quick kiss to the mound of the thumb, then worked down into the palm, pressing tiny kisses quickly, afraid Stark would stop him. A moment later, he wondered why Stark wasn’t stopping him. He looked up, hoping Stark would read the question in his eyes.

“Is it helping?” Stark asked, repeating his earlier question. Jack nodded slowly, now sliding his kisses down toward the pulse point in Stark’s wrist. Stark’s other hand rose, slowly resuming the gentle stroking of Jack’s head. “Then I’m not going to stop you,” he heard the scientist whisper, an odd, pained sound. 

He looked up again, seeing Stark’s eyes shuttered and distant, and Jack quickly rolled away, aware that he was causing the other man discomfort. The stabbing pain broke through the morphine almost instantly, but he shut his eyes, trying to stomach it. “Carter, what’s wrong?”

“Won’t do that to you, making this worse,” Jack muttered, crying out a little with the next stab of pain. He heard Stark saying something to a nurse and a flurry of movement around him but couldn’t focus enough to figure out what was happening. 

A moment later he felt the bed move under added weight, and strong arms looped around his waist, nestling him back along the length of a hard body. The reaction was almost instantaneous. He felt himself grow hard, the pain receding into the thudding of his heart. “What are you doing?” he hissed, starting to struggle a little, surprised to find himself well caught. 

“Helping,” Stark retorted, holding on tightly. “Stop worrying about me, start thinking about yourself. If this is keeping you from pain, it’s keeping you from dying too, you idiot.”

“It’s not just keeping me from pain though,” Jack pointed out, gasping as Stark’s hand slid up his arm and back down in what his brain was definitely not interpreting as a comforting gesture. “God, I haven’t been this horny since I was a teenager,” he confessed, hoping Stark would get his point and back off.

“I know,” Stark said, the comforting tone baffling Jack. “Fargo should get back to us soon, then we’ll talk. Just try to relax, Jack.”

“Not fair to you,” Jack replied angrily. 

“I’ll be more upset if you get angry and punch me right now,” Stark said pointedly. “Nothing is happening right now except me keeping you from dying, Jack. So relax.”

“Carter,” a new worried voice interrupted, and Jack tried not to groan as Allison reached him, her fingers instantly going to his throat, checking his pulse. Unlike Stark’s touch, her fingers left a cold, clammy feeling on his skin.

“I don’t think it’s programmed for Allison, so you can relax on that count,” Jack told Stark, pulling back from Allison and burrowing deeper into the other man’s embrace. “Sorry, Allison, but that feels weird.”

“Okay, that could be helpful to know, if you’re narrowing down candidates…” Allison started to say, cut off by Stark’s phone beeping loudly. The grip around Jack’s midsection loosened as Stark reached for his phone. 

Jack turned his attention back to Allison. “Carter, Henry is working on breaking down the chemical, but he isn’t feeling confident about being able to synthesize an antidote within the next 12 hours. I’m honestly not sure if your body can hold together any longer than that based on the blood work and scans we’ve done.”

“Can you knock me out?” Jack asked hopefully.

“Yes, but that won’t slow down the damage the chemical will do to your brain,” Allison explained patiently. She reached out to touch him, and her hand froze mid-air, obviously remembering his earlier reaction. 

“Give Henry as long as possible,” Jack muttered. “That’s what we’ll do.”

“Okay, Fargo confirmed it,” Stark said, snapping the phone shut and bringing his arms back around Jack tightly. “My DNA.”

“Okay, I’ll let Henry know,” Allison replied. “We’ll keep brainstorming, and you’ll be in charge of monitoring Carter, Nathan.”

“Why?” Jack asked, not understanding the look on Allison’s face.

“Carter, your brain’s been hardwired to his DNA. Eventually, if we can’t synthesize a cure and stop it—”

“Then you’ll knock me out so I’m not in pain,” Jack replied through clenched teeth, his arousal shooting up again as Stark burrowed his lips into the nape of Jack’s neck for a moment. “Geez, Stark,” he groaned, flushing red at his reaction. Allison’s eyebrows rose, a small smile playing on her lips, not helping Jack’s embarrassment. 

“Allison, go work,” Stark said quietly. “I’ll talk to him.” Allison opened her mouth to object, so he added, “He’s not going to listen to reason about this from anyone but me, you know that. I’ll call you if I need help.”

“Okay,” Allison agreed, holding her hands up in concession. “Just make sure you keep him as calm as possible for as long as possible.”

“I know,” Stark sighed, the breath warm along Jack’s throat, making him shudder pleasantly. Allison gave Jack a quick, reassuring smile before walking away, the click of her heels fading completely before either man moved again. 

“Carter, don’t worry about it,” Stark said quietly. “All the staff are locked out of the room, cameras off, no one can see in.”

“That’s not what I object to,” Jack said, trying not to get angry. Stark slowly stroked a line down his chest, waiting for him to calm down. “Stark… Nathan. I can’t do this to you.”

“Jack, for most men the choice between sex and death is a pretty easy one,” the scientist sounded amused. “Even if it’s with another man.”

“It’s not the guy thing that bothers me, if that’s what you’re thinking. Been there, done that,” Jack replied, struggling to find words. “God, this reminds me of that Eddie Izzard routine Zoë is always quoting, you know, Cake or Death? I mean, who wouldn’t pick cake? Sex or death, same thing. But that’s not what you’re asking,” Jack said a little hysterically. “You’re asking me to choose between death and…” he bit his lip, feeling Nathan shift behind him, waiting patiently. “Between death and raping you, Nathan.”

He felt Nathan shaking his head, and plunged on, speaking even more quickly. “You don’t want this, it’s some crazy scientist’s plot to hurt you. And that makes it rape, and I won’t do that to you. I can’t.”

“Your logic astonishes me,” Nathan said quietly, his voice carrying a light almost teasing note that was underscored by hurt. “Jack, that’s unbelievably backwards. There is nothing forcing me to be here, to make this offer. I could walk away, consequence free. I’m choosing to offer you this, to stay.”

“But you don’t want it,” Jack started, unable to suppress a groan when Nathan nipped at his neck lightly, then soothed the spot with a kiss.

“What makes you so sure?” Nathan murmured, his lips moving against Jack’s throat. 

Jack rolled over, looking up at Nathan, trying to read his expression. “You don’t even like me,” Jack said softly. 

“I don’t like being jealous because I see you and Allison flirting,” Nathan replied, obviously uncomfortable talking about his feelings. “But most of the time I don’t know who I’m jealous of. I do like you, Jack, and even if you weren’t dying, I’d gladly let you into my bed.” 

Jack was silent, floored by Nathan’s admission. “I’m so sorry,” Nathan continued, stroking Jack’s cheek. “I think that Dirkson must have caught on to what I was feeling for you, given some comments he made. It’s the perfect revenge, because you were right about it being rape, Jack. But you’re the one being forced into this. He’s ensuring you’ll never return my affection.”

The discussion and the increased distance were creating tiny spikes of pain that had helped keep Jack’s thinking focused, but now he burrowed forward into Nathan’s arms, wishing he could take away the pain in Nathan’s eyes and voice, force him back into snarking and teasing Jack, as he did so well. “I’d tell you how much I want this, but you won’t believe me while I’m drugged, will you?” Jack asked, pressing a little kiss to the corner of Nathan’s mouth.

“No,” Nathan agreed, his voice heavy. “But it’s nice of you to try.”

“I don’t want to do this with that look in your eyes,” Jack whispered, seeing the shuttered darkness clouding the green eyes that he loved seeing filled with light and fire when they argued. “This isn’t your fault.” A sudden spike of pain had him clutching Nathan a little closer. 

“It’s okay,” Nathan said, wrapping his arms around Jack. “I’ve got you.”

Intense pain shot over into intense arousal and before Jack was entirely aware of what he was doing, he brought his head up, crushing Nathan’s lips to his hungrily. It took a moment, but Nathan melted into the kiss, opening his mouth to deepen the kiss, surprising Jack. He took his time, managing to slow the kiss and commit to memory the feel of Nathan’s tongue tracing his, the scratch of Nathan’s beard along his chin, and the way Nathan’s fingers tightened when Jack traced the shell of his ear with a light touch. Once he was settled into the pleasant morphine haze again, he broke the kiss, leaning up and pressing a chaste kiss to Nathan’s forehead. “Sorry,” he murmured, resting his forehead against Nathan’s. 

“Don’t apologize,” Nathan murmured breathlessly, his fingers coming up to gently comb through Jack’s hair. “That was a hundred times better than any fantasy of it I’ve ever had. I just wish it were real.”

“It is real,” Jack said softly, burrowing even more tightly into Nathan. “If I didn’t have feelings for you, do you think I’d be holding back?” he observed logically. Nathan pulled away a little, examining Jack, his eyes narrowing. Jack tried to keep his face impassive, but he was relatively certain Nathan could read the pain that was warring with his desire.

“It’s bad enough this is happening,” Nathan said, his voice soft and sharp at the same time. “Please don’t suffer in some idiotic attempt to spare me.” He lowered his mouth to Jack’s, slowly kissing him while rolling his body on top of Jack’s. Jack groaned, his hips rising to thrust against Nathan’s, surprised by how turned on he was. Nathan slid against Jack, indulging the other man’s desire, and Jack was relieved to feel that Nathan was just as aroused as he was. 

“Tell me what you need,” Nathan growled in Jack’s ear, nipping at Jack’s earlobe. “Let me make this all about you,” Nathan kissed down to the hollow of Jack’s throat. “I know I want this, and maybe I can make it enough that you won’t hate me for it tomorrow.”

“Nathan, god,” Jack whimpered, tugging him up into a fierce kiss. “Will the serum wear off if we have sex?” he asked suddenly, kissing Nathan before he could answer.

“I don’t know,” Nathan replied, his words punctuated by kisses. “If we keep the pain… from shutting down your brain… for long enough… I think so, yes.”

“And you really don’t want to try and wait for Henry?” Jack asked, earning himself a thorough fierce kiss. 

“I’d rather make the most of this, suck your brains out through your dick as often as you need and pretend you want it,” Nathan said bluntly, smiling wickedly down at Jack. 

Jack knew he was staring at Nathan, but the dirty words from the eloquent scientist had left him unbearably hard, and he leaned up a little, kissing Nathan and dragging him down to the mattress. “When the pain gets bad enough,” Jack murmured. “You will fuck me through the mattress. And then, if it isn’t enough, knock me out, Nathan. Henry can keep working, and with luck, he’ll pull off one of his usual miracles.”

“Small steps,” Nathan agreed, then began kissing his way down Jack’s throat. He nipped at Jack’s earlobe before finding a spot just below it and latched on, leaving his mark. Jack groaned as Nathan began undoing his uniform buttons, shoving the shirt out of the way. “Off,” Nathan demanded, tugging on the undershirt. 

Jack sat up a little, helping Nathan remove his shirts. “You too,” Jack said, fumbling to work the buttons on Nathan’s dress shirt. Finding them a little too complicated, he tugged the sides of the shirt apart, sending buttons skittering across the infirmary floor. Nathan quickly tugged off his shirts, before bending back down so that he could kiss Jack deeply. Jack could have cried in relief at how far back the pain fell as bare skin met bare skin. “God, thank you, Nathan,” he murmured, letting his hands slide over Nathan’s muscular torso. 

Nathan’s mouth slowly traced its way over the ridges and dips of Jack’s chest, stopping to lick and lightly bite his hardened nipples. Jack clung to the threads of his self-control, letting Nathan feed his need for sensation. His hands slid down Nathan’s back, cupping the other man’s ass and squeezing just enough to produce a muffled groan from where Nathan was licking a path along his hipbone. 

Nathan’s fingers reached for the clasp on Jack’s pants, but Jack pulled him back up into a hard kiss, shaking his head. “I don’t need that yet,” he murmured. “As much as I want it. Prolong it, because I want to live long enough for Henry to cure this, so we can do this without making you feel guilty.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Nathan replied quietly, but complied, kissing Jack softly, lacing his fingers through Jack’s. 

The kisses slowly grew heated, their hands and mouths sliding to explore every dip of muscle and scar on each other. Nathan’s mouth found a circular scar just under his collarbone where Jack had been shot during his first year as a marshal and proceeded to explore it so meticulously that Jack was certain he’d never be able to look at it in the mirror the same way again. Jack, in return, left a dark purple mark of his own to match his scar along Nathan’s collarbone.

Nathan’s explorations continued until Jack was reduced to pleading softly from the pain mixing with pleasure. He caved, finally allowing Nathan to finish undressing him, which was punctuated by a new round of torture, as Nathan was determined to prolong his arousal.

He plied his tongue lightly in soft up and down movements, exploring and teasing Jack ever so slowly up to the crest of orgasm before easing back, refusing to let Jack slide over the brink, over and over again, pushing the limits of Jack’s self control to the breaking point. 

Jack was certain he would die from pleasure, rather than pain, reduced to babbling incoherently as Nathan finally sucked him in deeply, letting Jack come at last. Jack fell back, his vision going gray for a moment as his entire body relaxed, blissfully pain free for one moment. 

He scrambled and clawed his way back to consciousness, barely aware of his own actions as he flipped Nathan over and tugged his erection free so he could swallow it. Jack hit full awareness when he heard Nathan’s hoarse shout of surprise and arousal. He hummed as he slid his tongue playfully down the ridges, no time for teasing and exploring, simply desperate action, only acknowledging Nathan’s gentle tug on his hair to warn him that he was about to come by sucking him in further. The pain swarmed up once more, overwhelming him as he swallowed, falling into darkness again. 

*-*

Jack woke slowly this time, aware of the blinding light, but no more pain than his average headache and a brain full of fuzz. “Jack?” he heard a quiet voice ask, and he managed to turn his head, blinking to clear his vision. Henry sat up, grinning. “Hey, how you feeling?” he asked, carefully reaching over to touch his hand. Jack sighed in relief when it simply felt like Henry’s hand, gripping it like a lifeline.

“I’m okay,” he said, giving his friend a tired, lopsided grin. “You fixed it, didn’t you?”

“We got very, very lucky,” Henry replied, squeezing Jack’s hand comfortingly. “I was going back through the bio files on you and Nathan and noticed you had the same blood type. You’ve had two transfusions, and we had to remove your own blood in order to filter it, strip as much of the chemical as we could out of you. It was drastic, but after you blacked out, your MRI was showing that your brain was still under attack.”

“A Hail Mary move?” Jack summed up, and Henry nodded, smiling.

“Yeah, it definitely was,” Henry replied, double checking the stats on the monitor Jack was hooked to. “I’ll grab a doctor, but your numbers look good, Jack.”

“Where’s Nathan?” Jack asked, watching Henry’s grin fade quickly. “Blaming himself or blaming me?” Jack asked softly, closing his eyes against the little flutter of emotional pain, eerily similar to the physical pain of the previous day. 

“Himself,” Henry reassured him, squeezing his shoulder. “He feels he was part of forcing you into something you didn’t want. You missed the phase where he tried to convince Jo he ought to be arrested. Not that he was going to let her actually do it, but you know, that he deserved it.”

Jack let his head fall back, trying not to laugh at the mental image this was giving him. “Can you get that stubborn idiot up here?” he asked, and then stopped. “No, hand him lab results for clean blood work, then send him here.”

“Gotcha,” Henry replied giving Jack a long look. “You gonna be okay? You’d have every right to be freaking out.”

“I’m okay,” Jack replied, although he wasn’t sure it was true. “Or I will be after I have a chance to talk to Nathan.”

Henry nodded, heading out. A handful of blood tests later, Allison swung by to tell Jack he was being released. He got dressed slowly, keeping an eye on the infirmary door, hoping he wasn’t going to have to go after Nathan. He left his uniform shirt off, Allison having given him a few days off to make sure there weren’t any adverse side effects waiting to pop up later. With Zoë in LA, Jack wasn’t really keen on the idea of several days with nothing to do. He sighed, seeing the infirmary still empty, so he caught the elevator up to Nathan’s office, ignoring Fargo’s attempt to block him on his way in. 

“Our timetable…” Nathan looked up from the conference call, frowning at Jack as he entered, but continued. “…shouldn’t be affected in the slightest. That’s all I’ve got on it for now, gentlemen, and something pressing has come up. I’ll have Dr. Blake get back to you a little later for the protocols briefing.”

He disconnected the phone, and Jack approached him slowly, sitting on the edge of the desk, looking down at the other man. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon,” Nathan muttered, closing a file and tossing it aside. “Unless you’re here to arrest me.”

“Yeah, Henry said you had some mixed up ideas about that,” Jack replied quietly. “I wish it had been under better circumstances, Nathan, but I did want to be with you.”

“Is this some misguided attempt to make me feel better?” Nathan asked dryly, swiveling his chair a little so he was facing Jack directly. “I have no misconceptions about what happened, Carter.”

“Fine,” Jack replied, folding his arms stubbornly. “Make it up to me.”

“Done,” Nathan replied, looking relieved. “What do you want?”

“I want you to give me a real first kiss, to see if your touch makes me melt just as much now,” Jack said softly, standing and stepping closer to Nathan. “Then I want to take you home to my bunker and spend as much time together as it takes to convince you that I want you. Me, not some chemical or drug.”

“Jack,” Nathan said, his resolve starting to crumble before Jack’s eyes. 

“Nathan, I want you,” Jack murmured, sliding down to straddle Nathan’s lap. He brought a hand up to cup Nathan’s face, forcing the other man to look up at him. “I know we just got handed a whole lot of messed up baggage from both of us thinking we forced the other one into something. But I want to try. If you want me.” 

On the last bit, his confidence slipped, suddenly aware that maybe everything Nathan had said the night before had been to make him to give in. “If you don’t, if last night you were just saying whatever you had to in order to save my life, just tell me,” Jack said, his voice strained. “I’ll say thank you and go home.”

“No,” Nathan replied quickly, his arms suddenly wrapping tightly around Jack’s waist. “Don’t you dare, Jack. I meant every word I said.”

“Then stop blaming yourself and kiss me,” Jack said fiercely, and Nathan surged forward, his lips covering Jack’s. Jack let his fingers tangle in Nathan’s dark curls as they kissed, pouring himself into it. This kiss had desperation in it that wasn’t just his, Nathan not holding back anything now, and Jack pursued it until he had to pull away reluctantly to breathe.

Jack stared down at Nathan, his green eyes filled with a mix of trepidation and desire. “It’s going to take some time,” Nathan admitted, his hands slowly stroking Jack’s sides. “Before I can erase feeling guilty.”

“One piece at a time,” Jack replied, letting out a shaky sigh. “We just had our first kiss,” he added, and Nathan nodded in agreement. 

“Just a moment,” Nathan said, settling one hand on Jack’s thigh and reaching for the intercom with the other. “Fargo, can you look up how many personal days the sheriff has accumulated over the past three years for me?”

Jack tilted his head curiously at Nathan, starting to slide off the other man’s lap, but found himself held in place. Nathan’s door slid open, and Fargo turned three shades of red before going very pale as he looked at Nathan. “Uh, Dr. Stark, uh…”

“How many days?” Nathan asked again, keeping his fingers locked at the small of Jack’s back as Jack tried to slide back again to spare Fargo. 

“He’s only taken five personal days, so that leaves 25,” Fargo stammered, looking at them in disbelief. “Um, Dr. Blake asked me to point out that you have almost six times that stored up yourself, and as head of GD, she could force you to take some time.”

“Thank you, Fargo,” Nathan said, his eyes locked on Jack’s face. “Let her know we’ll be taking the next ten days.”

“Zoë comes back in six,” Jack pointed out, and Nathan nodded, giving Jack a patient look.

“And after everything, you could use some time with her,” Nathan replied easily. “We’ll just have to actually get out of bed for those four days.”

“Thanks,” Jack replied, lowering his mouth to Nathan’s. The squeak and hurried retreat of Fargo reminded him that they’d had an audience, but Jack didn’t care. 

“I think we just permanently traumatized my assistant,” Nathan observed when Jack broke the kiss. 

“It’s good for him to get used to it now,” Jack replied mischievously. “Take me home to bed, Stark, or I’ll go home and start without you.”

The scientist reached around Jack, tapping the desktop computer controls a few times, shutting down the system. “I’m serious about not letting you out of bed for days,” he warned Jack as they left his office. 

Jack waited until they were within earshot of Fargo’s desk before asking, “Then how will we have shower sex?” and laughing when he heard Fargo’s squeak of shock. “Too easy,” he told Nathan, his heart thudding as the other man grinned at him. They had a long way to go to chase that lingering look of guilt out of each other’s eyes, but Jack intended to enjoy every minute of it.


End file.
